Gravity coaster



July 21, 1936. R, MILLER 2,04 ,215

GRAVITY GOAS TER Filed April 6, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 R. R. MILLER ,0 8, I GRAVITY COASTER Filed April 6, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 5. 1 mlllll gjlpInulllnmumm- July 21, 1936. R. R. MILLER GRAVITY COASTER 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 6, 1954 @WZiLZer- R. R. MILLER GRAVITY VCOASTER July 21, 193

Filed April 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 um QM NW I WW WW Patented July 21, 1936 A -Es; T critics:

2,048,215 GRAVITY: ooAs'r'En.

Royal R. Miller, Chicago,-*]1l.-" ApplicationApril s, 1934. ,Serial No. 719,316

3 Claims; (01. 104 -63) Figgl is a side elevationvpartly broken away,

- inventionrrelates. to .aan amusement de.- vice of the gravity coastertypeniruwhich cars; are elevated hy powerto. a predeterminedheight and then permittedto run by .gravity ,rdownan lmdescending :along rthe next curved: portion.

iinclined; trackway .having portions: curved backwardlyi underneath; itself; said curved portions-H merging into inclined portions:.-terminating in upwardly; slopingazportionsw so arranged as; to properly control; the speed :of the car (prior to Among the. objects of the;invention:is to-proe vide Kanamusement ride device of the gravity coaster type infwhich-ithe cars each pass along 5 a trackway ,having vertically curved portions to.-

- give speed to thecar, and upwardly inclined portions to: control :said' qspeed Another object isto provide meansawhereby. gravity coaster carsarerun-along a :trackway in a pathway; curved back ibeneath itself in "a G vertical plane;

A further object. is to provideia gravity coaster in whichthe cars follow pathwaysthat are curved in..a vertical plane first in one direction and then ,1

thegother." V

A stillxfurtherobject iseto provide inv-a 'gravity. coaster a trackway; having -a combination of vertical curves and upwardly inclined-"portionsa to -;give ra i-successionrof alternatelyspeeding up and retarding -movements to.the cars: Y ;A..fur1ther .;obje ct is to provide.-:in. a gravity.: coaster :a i-drop along a .verticallywcurveclapath, and anupvvardincline to' slow-up the speed ac- 1 quired by the drop; I I V Anotherobject isto provide a novel carrier for .eachiof said cars sol-arranged aswto adapt itself to.-theureverse curves-in 'the.-atrackway- (without cramping the car or.-permitting itswheels toleave thetrackway.

A-still further object is .to. providernovel bPakL-J ing-means ,for. mechanically, slowing. up ,any; one of.. said-.carsi toprevent 1 their acquiring too great velocity.:. V

Onerqotherobject is to -provide a .novelecon-r; struction :of rear and carriages ior.support ingthe same. 7

Another object is to provideua novel arrangement of trackway to accommodate-the: reverse-- curvilinear movements of the; carsupportingoapriages.:. a

I therobjects, advantagesand-capabilities will-r later more fully appear.

My,,invent ion=further resides in the-combination, construction and arrangement of parts .illustrate d. in. the. accompanying drawings,., and.

' while! have shown thereina preferrediernbodimentrof... my. inventionl wish it understood that the. same-.is ..susceptible;.-oi modification and change; without-departingjromthe spiritof my. inventions In the drawings:-

. tionspr1oops;3,i4, and 5, in order to keep showing diagrammatically a gravity coaster embodyingamypinvention.

FigL;-2 isla side elevation partly in section of one of the carszzwith its supporting carriage and showing ,a fragmentary portion of the trackway.

Fig.. 3 is a front elevation partlyv in section of thecanof Fig- 2.

FiglA is.a fragmentary frontelevation with the eye lookingat-zthevertical plane of the-line 4-4 of. .Fig 5 whileione of the cars is being elevated to the top pf the device.

Fig.; 5 is a sectional view taken in a horizontal planaalong the line 55 of Fig.4.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of a portion :oithe trackwaywith a carriage therein, and showingz a braking device for slowing up and/or stopping the cars, and looking in the direction otthearrows on line 6-.-6-in Fig-7.

Fig. '7 is a-verticalvsectional view taken on the line -l'l-of.-Fig-.-6 and looking in the direction of thearrows.

Fig-.8 is'a fragmentary detail view of a portion otthe-propelling: means for. conveying the cars fromthe loading platform to the tower through whichtheyare carried up to elevated position, thisview also-showing .the bottom portion of the car elevating means in said tower.

Fig..9,isia.fragmentary detail view of the car elevating mechanism at thetopof the tower.

Fig..l0.isia fragmentary diagrammatic side elevation of..a curved portion of the track, showing.

thetrelation ofthe carriage wheels with the track when the carriage is moving around said. curved portiorninw a clockwise. direction-as viewed in Fig.1, this view also showing thecarriagein the upper part. of said curved portion of the track.

Fig. .11 isa ,view similar. to: Fig. 10, but showing therela'tioh between the carriage wheels and the track when the carriage is starting around a portion.of,the..track curved in a counter-clockwise direction astviewed in Fig. 1, thecarriage in Fig. 11 having. been-turned over with relation to its position shown in Fig. ,10.

Referring more in detail to the drawings and more. particularly. to Fig. 1, it will be seen that my gravity. coaster comprises in general a tower I and a trackway 2, which latter emerges from the top. .of. the. towernand continues in a generally downwardly inclined direction, this downward inclination being interrupted by curved portions orloops 3, 4,-and 5, which curved portions or loops are so arranged that thepath of the track extends backwardly. underneath itself a plurality of times andis provided at spaced intervals with upwardly inclined portionsfi, 1, and 8 of such degree of curvature orupward inclination as to slow down the. speedof the car just prior to its passing aroundthenext successive one of the curved porthe .sengers may COHVBISG speed of the car within proper control and limits. V V I It will also beseen in Fig.1 that the trackway 2 after continuing around the last loop 5 extends safe a substantial distance in the horizontally extending portion 9, which will be of sufficient length to take care of the cars as they ride thereinto from the last loop 5. In this horizontal portion 9 of the trackway is provided braking means I for slowing up the speed of the cars to such a degree" "viewed in Fig. 1) until it is pickedup by the endless'conveyingchain I3, by which it will be carried forward until it is released from the conveying chain l3 and picked up by the elevating endless chain M. The details of these two conveying chains will be later more fully described. 'As' soon as the car is picked up by the elevating chain i It. it is carried upwardly through the tower I to the top thereof, where it will be held until the preceding car has' passed a sufficient distance down the trackway 2 so as to be outof the Way of the next succeeding car, at which time the latter will then be released for its passage down the trackway 2.

While no attempt is made in the drawings to show the exact bracing for fixedly maintaining the trackway in position, it is generally stated that suitable bracing members I5 of any desired and appropriate design and arrangement may be used as desired and withinthe: limits of safety. 7 These bracing members IE will, of course, have suitable and appropriate connection with foundation supports for'rigidly holding the entire trackway in position. V

'As seen in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the trackway Z'is comprised of four'rails (see Fig. 3) a, b, c, and d,

which are properly spaced to have proper en- 7 gagement with the carriage wheels and their flanges to prevent the wheels from leaving the trackway. V

The cars, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, each have a body portion I5, provided with seats suitably upholstered for the comfort of the passengers. These cars maybe of any desired construction, but, as shown, are closed at the sides and open at the two ends. There is a middle partition |8 which divides the car into two compartments, and there will be seats arranged in each compartment with-the backs against the partition l8 so thatthe passengers may have full vision in the direction in which they are facing. Openings H) are provided in the partition so that the pasthe other if desired, and the sides of each com-.

partment are also provided with observation openings 20, which may glass, as desired. v

Each compartment is provided with a safety rail 2|, which, when the car'is being loadedjwill be swung outwardly away from the; position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and when the car is loaded may be swung back into the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and locked in such vent the passengers falling out. These rails 2| may be grasped by the passengers for convenience.

and safety as desired. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3,

.having a notch 21 will be moved downwardly so picked up by the first. conveying chain 3.

from one compartment to or may not be covered with in a vertical position, and when position to presafety rails into and out of position. When swung 5 into closed positionfas shown in Figs. 2'and 3,

the projecting end 24 attach end of the rail 2| V v a willpass into a notch 25 formed in the body portion of the car, after which a latch member 26 that the notch 21 fits overthe projecting ends 24 to lock safety rails 2| in position. Latch 26 is pivoted at 28 and intermediate of its ends has pivotal connection with a downwardly extending bar 29, which at'its lower end is pivoted to link 30, which link in turn has pivotal connection at 3| with the bottom of the car.

Each of the bars 291s. provided. with a handle 32 which may be grasped by the attendant when it is desired to unload the car and lift'it upwardly to move notch27 in latch 26. out of engagement with the projecting ends 24- of rail 2|to permit safety rail 2| to be swung outwardly away from the car topermit passengers to step out of the car. Togive stability to the car itis provided at each of its four bottom corne'rs with casters or rollers 33, which will contact with the floor of the'loading platform i2 when the car is in loading position. These casters in conjunction'with the wheels of the carriage supporting the'car in the rails also facilitate the pushing: of the car forwardby hand after being loaded until it is The carriage-or carrier by which the car is supported in the 'trackway 2 will now be described. 35

As seen in Figs, 2 and 3, this icarriage is secured by brackets 34 rigidly to the car body, the upper portion of brackets 34 being formed with bearings 35, in which is journalled the shaft 36, the two ends of shaft 36 extending a substantial dis- 4 tance outwardly beyond bearings 35 and passing.

through the main frame members 3T'of the carriage trucks, and also througheach of the middle 7 wheels 38 of the carriage and extending 'there beyond to formextensions 39, which extensions 4 are picked up by the lifting fingers 40, which are fixed to the elevating chain |4' (see Fig. 4), as V will be later more fully described.

As seen in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, the carriage or carrier for the cars comprises the truck frame memv bers 31, one on each..side, on each of which are rotatably mounted three wheels 38, 4|, and 42. In other words, there are three wheels on each side of the top of the car forengagement' with the horizontally and laterally spaced rails .of the 5 trackway 2. The axis of rotation of the middle 'Wheel 38 is below a straight line connecting the position of these wheels as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 G5" is that when the car is on the loading platform. As will also be readilyunderstood, as the car is elevated throughtower these trucks of the carria'ge supporting the car will be down the incline at the topof the tower these trucks will be rotated through an angle of when they start down the top" incline of track 2 l as compared with their position .when they were on the loading platform; 'In' other words, when.

moved upwardly F the car is started the car is starting down the inclinefrom the top of the tower the middle wheels-38 will-be higher than the two wheels 4| and '42.

seen in the drawings, each of the wheels of the car carriage or truck is provided with marginalflanges, the flanges of each ofwheels 4| and 42 engaging over the outside edge of the track. rails with which they are in contact, "and the marginal flange of each of the middle wheels 38 will engage over the inside of the opposite rail for that side of the track, so tha't-in any and all positions of the car the flanges of wheels 4| and 42 will be-in engagement with the outside edge of one rail and the flange of each of the middle wheels 38 will be in engagement with the inside edge of the other rail of that pair. In other words, the track rails, as explained above, are arranged in pairs, two on each side, and the space between each pair of these rails-is carefully arranged so that at all times the flanges of the truck wheels will be in engagement with the rails.

Due to the truck turning over as it passes the various 'loops 3, 4, and in is necessary to space the rails of each pair of tracks, to-wit, rails a, b and rails c, d farther apart or closer together to take care of the particular position of'the truck at thatpoint of the track. This will be readily understood from an inspection of Figs. and 11, Fig. 10 showing the relative position of the wheels with the track memberswhen the car is going around one of the loops in a clockwise direction and Fig. 11 showing the relation between the wheels and the track rails when the car is going around one of the loops in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1. Inother words, Fig. 10 represents a portion of the upper half of either one of loops 3 or 5, while Fig. 11 shows a portion of the upper half of loop 4.

Due to this turning over of the truck frame it will be obvious that the rails at such positions as shown-in Fig. .10 must be closer together, due to the fact that the curvature of a line passing through the three wheel centers follows in a general direction the curvature of the loop of the track, while when in the position shown in Fig. 11 the curvature passing through the three wheel centers is opposed to the general curvature of theloop at that point, thus obviously necessitating in the latter instance a greater distance between the rail members on each horizontal side of the track than is necessary in the position shown in Fig. 10. The track rails when this gravity coaster is being erected will be properly spaced at all points to insure that the wheels and flanges will be in proper engagement with the rails at all points when the car reaches such point.

* From the above described construction it will be seen that the car in which the passengers are riding will bependulously suspended by axle 36 from the carriage or truck, so that the car will always hang downwardly vertically from the truck, except'for such swinging movement as may be imparted to the car by its travel over the rails. It is also seen that this pendulous mounting of the car with relation to the truck permits the truck to turn over as it passes around the loops 3, 4 and 5 and in passing upwardly through the tower I without disturbing the downwardly hanging vertical position of the car.

' The rails a, b; c, and d of the track 2 will be uitably and rigidly secured to the supporting members 15 by brackets, braces or other constructionwell-known in the construction of steel 3 work, as shown in Fig. 3. These supporting and bracing members I5 will be positioned onthe outside of the two sides ofthe trackway and there will be no cross members between the two sides of the trackway at such pointswhere the car hangs downwardly therebetween to interfere with the progress of the car. In other words, if desired, cross braces-may be used along the top side of the top stretch of the trackway between the tower andloop 33, but not on the bottom side of the same,1as the'latter would interfere with the progress of the car, and the same general principle applies to all of the other portions of the trackway of the gravity coaster. In other words, cross braces may be used at such places where the same would not interfere with the progress of the car but not where such interference would occur.

Referring now to Fig. 8, which is a detail of the structure shown in the lower left-hand corner of Fig. 1, and represents the conveyingmechanism with which the car is brought into engagement when it is pushed by hand or otherwise, as desired, to the left along the loading platform l2 after being loaded. When thus pushed the loaded car is moved to the horizontal conveying chain l3, which is mounted hprizontally-between the two lateral sides of the track, the axle 36 being engaged by the pushing finger 4 which is pivotally carried by the conveying chain I3 and so arranged that when it is on the lower side of this chain it either falls downwardly by gravity or is thus held by a spring so that it moves the car to the left in Fig. 1 by pushing on axle 36 and moving the truck or carriage to the left-along the track rails, the roller wheels 33 also contacting with the loading platform, as explained above. Closely adjacent and opposite 'pushing finger 43 is another finger 44, which is held to extend downwardly from chain l3 either by gravity or spring pressure, but is enabled to move upwardly so that it may ride over the axle 36 and then drop downwardly on the other side of the same so that the axle isbetween fingers 43and 44, finger 43 pushing the car and finger 44 holdingit against undue-movement should the impetus of the car be faster than the movement of the chain. As soon as these pushing fingers move the car far enough to the left in Fig. 8 to come Within the influence of the elevating chain I4, the lifting fingers 40 (see Fig. 4), w ch are fixedly secured to chain l4, will move into position behind extension 39 on each end of axle 36, and continue to move the car to the left, this continued movement ultimately carrying the car beyond the influence of fingers 43 and 44, which latter fingers will move upwardly around the sprocket wheel 45 and return in the reverse directon along the top of the sprocket wheel 45 and back to sprocket wheel 46, to ultimately pick up another car when the latter comes within theinfluence of chain l3.

Assuming the car to now be picked up by the engagement of elevating fingers 40 with the axle extension 39, the car will continue to move to the left in Fig. 8 and be elevated upwardly through the tower, the trackway being curved at this point as shown at 41 to extend from a horizontal to a vertical direction. The elevating fingers 40 are concave or otherwise formed with a depression on their upper face, as shownin the left-hand portion of Fig. 8, to prevent any possibility of their becoming disengaged with the axle extensions 39, which, however, would be impossible due to the chain l4 having rollers 48 which move between guide rails 49 and 5il; whichguide Itwill also ;be understood that, these guiderails 49 and are arranged in paiIa'asIseeninEig. 5. These; guiderails .49 and at thetopof the tower also extend around the; curvature as the.

track rails extendlaterally. and outwardly from the top of .the tower, butthesetrackxails;49 and 50'have been brokenoff in Fig. 9 andnot extend ed all the way-up in order notto confuse; the

sho-wingjof the truck. wheels and other partsin.

this view. It islobvious that thesetrack or guide rails 49 and 55 may..be extendedupwardly or downwardly in eitherastraight orcurvecl direction to follow the main track rails toany. extent desired-inorder to'properlyconfine the chain M to its work without undue. lostmotion in passing around curves.,-

Any suitable number of sprocketwheels 5ll, 52, and-.53: (see Figs. 8 and 9) may beused as desired toadequately take care of the movement of chain i4, whichchain and sprocket wheels may be driven by a motor, 54 at the top of the tower, or any other desired motive. power'in, any desired location as may be selected. Chain [3 may'also be, drivenby a separate motor, if desired, or may. receive its propelling power by being geared or otherwise driven from sprocket wheel 45 or'its shaft55 of chain It. As will be understood, the flanges of rollers Ml: engage each side of the guide railsfisgand, 50jandeliminate any possibility of the'two chains l4 (one on each side of the trackway) spreading to, permit falling of.

the car. Suchfalling of ,the car is impossible in the construction herein described dueto the engagement of the flanges of rollers 48 with the guide rails Q9 and 55, asstated.

The braking mechanism, it for stopping the car asflit approaches the loading .platform'will now be described. This is shown in detail in'Figs. 6 and 7 and-consists of .an elongatedlongitudinally slidable member 55, which carries on its "upper surface a portion 51 against which frictionally engages the lower face 58 of the carriage truck frame 31, which face, 58 may, if desired, be pro: Vided with a layer of anti-friction material 59 in order to prevent the lower face of the metal member 31 from becoming slick. Fixed at spaced intervals to the lower face of the elongated member-Bo are the wedge members 8E4, of which any number with any desirable space; may be used as the occasion may require. Extending from the right-hand end ofelongated member 55,,as viewed in Fig. 6, is a cable 6|, passing over a pulley 62, and to the lower end of whichcable is mounted a weight member 62', which may be sov constructed that additional weights may be added to or taken therefromto increase or decrease the weight of this member 62; Extending fromthe left-hand end of the elongated member 55, as viewed in Fig, 6,,is a tension rod 63 which, as seen in Fig. 1, is attached intermediate the ends of a lever 64, which lever at its upper end is pivoted to the side of the trackway or other suitable adjacent member.'

- The weight 62'normally tends to move the elongated member 55, as viewed in Fig. 6, to the right to force the wedge-shapedmembers to tend to ride over the rollers 65, whichare rotatably mounted in suitable frames just below the trackway 2,- and this, movement of the wedge member 60 over roller v65causesthe elongated member 56 to move in a vertical direction upwardly aswell as moyinglongitudinally, and-when the truck 3.! .moves abOVe;m8mber:56 it will pass over the, bevelled end 66 and tend to press the member .56 downwa dl h friction th setu between; the upper, surface of member 56 and the lower face of the truck membert'l will in an obvious manner slow up the speed of the car.

Theiw isht'fi a be s e at adding or removing weight elements therefrom to give the desired ,braking action to the carto slow it up, and if it is (165113841130 lessen the braking ac,-

tion and permit the. car to move to a greater distance to the left, for instance to the loading platform; all the operator needs to do is to grasp the lever arm '64 .andpull thebottom end of the same, as viewed in Fig. 1,to the right, which mqv t We e mbe 89 t the the action'of weight 62' and lowersthe top surface of member 56 to any degree desired. Thus the braking action may be made greater by add: ing more weights to the weight 52, or lessby appropriatezmovement of the handle 64. This givesa latitude in the operation of stopping the car and the operator will soon become so experienced that he can by this-mechanismstop the car to such adegree that when itcomes to the loadingplatform it can be readily brought to a'dead stop by the hand of the attendant. at the desired place for loading. j

1 Having-now describedmy invention,

left against 1. ma gravity coaster an inclined trackway having two laterally'spaced sides, each of. said sides comprising two rails spaced apart in a yertical plane,:a carrier having three wheels on each,

side, each of said three wheels having flanges that engagetwoon one side of said side rails 'andone on theother, one Wheel of each of said three wheels having its center of rotation out of alinernent with thecenter of rotation, of the other two, said'rails of each side of the trackway being spaced apart in'a vertical plane fartherin one direction of curvature of the trackway than the other,.whereby said flanges will always prevent said carrier from leaving the-rails of thetrackway as the. carrier turns over.

, 2. Inla gravity coaster an havingtwolaterally spaced sides, each of said sides comprising two railsspaced apart in a vertical plane, a carrier having three wheels on each side, each of said three wheels having flanges that engagetwo on one side of said side rails and one on the othenone wheelof each' of said three wheels having its'center of rotation out of .alinementgwimm centerjof rotation of the other two, saidrails of each side of the trackway being spaced apart in a vertical plane fartherin' one directionofcurvature of the trackwaythan the other, whereby sai-d fianges will always prevent inclined trackway said carrier from leaving the railsof the trackway as the carrier turns oiver, the said wheelsof said carrier being arranged with relation to the rails of said trackway to. produce the minimum amount of friction,.together with the maximum of safety. 3;, In a gravitycoaster provided with an in clind'trackway having two laterally spaced sides,

eachof'fsaid sides comprising two rails: spaced 7 a apart, acarrier having two sets of three overhead wheels, the wheels in each set having flanges that engage two on onesidefof said rails and one on the other, thecenter'wheel having its center'of rotation out of alignment with the center of totation'of the, other two.

ROYAL .R. ILL R. f 

